Thermal comfort survey in office buildings in Bandung, Indonesia

The comfort state of office building’s occupants is crucial since its related to the worker’s productivity. This comfort temperature of people from tropical climate might be different from temperate climate area. This study aimed to investigate thermal comfort and adaptive behaviour of occupants in office buildings with different ventilation modes: air-conditioned, mixed-mode, and free running. On February and March 2015, approximately 400 responses has been obtained through field surveys in three office buildings Bandung, Indonesia. The results has shown quite different comfort range between occupants in three ventilation modes: 24.7 oC, 26.3 oC, and 27.5 oC operative comfort temperature for FR, CL, and MM accordingly

NFKB1 regulates human NK cell maturation and effector functions

12siopenopenLougaris, Vassilios; Patrizi, Ornella; Baronio, Manuela; Tabellini, Giovanna; Tampella, Giacomo; Damiati, Eufemia; Frede, Natalie; van der Meer, Jos W.M.; Fliegauf, Manfred; Grimbacher, Bodo; Parolini, Silvia; Plebani, AlessandroLougaris, Vassilios; Patrizi, Ornella; Baronio, Manuela; Tabellini, Giovanna; Tampella, Giacomo; Damiati, Eufemia; Frede, Natalie; van der Meer, Jos W. M.; Fliegauf, Manfred; Grimbacher, Bodo; Parolini, Silvia; Plebani, Alessandr

The Scales Project, a cross-national dataset on the interpretation of thermal perception scales

Thermal discomfort is one of the main triggers for occupants’ interactions with components of the built environment such as adjustments of thermostats and/or opening windows and strongly related to the energy use in buildings. Understanding causes for thermal (dis-)comfort is crucial for design and operation of any type of building. The assessment of human thermal perception through rating scales, for example in post-occupancy studies, has been applied for several decades; however, long-existing assumptions related to these rating scales had been questioned by several researchers. The aim of this study was to gain deeper knowledge on contextual influences on the interpretation of thermal perception scales and their verbal anchors by survey participants. A questionnaire was designed and consequently applied in 21 language versions. These surveys were conducted in 57 cities in 30 countries resulting in a dataset containing responses from 8225 participants. The database offers potential for further analysis in the areas of building design and operation, psycho-physical relationships between human perception and the built environment, and linguistic analyses

Evaluating assumptions of scales for subjective assessment of thermal environments – Do laypersons perceive them the way, we researchers believe?

People's subjective response to any thermal environment is commonly investigated by using rating scales describing the degree of thermal sensation, comfort, and acceptability. Subsequent analyses of results collected in this way rely on the assumption that specific distances between verbal anchors placed on the scale exist and that relationships between verbal anchors from different dimensions that are assessed (e.g. thermal sensation and comfort) do not change. Another inherent assumption is that such scales are independent of the context in which they are used (climate zone, season, etc.). Despite their use worldwide, there is indication that contextual differences influence the way the scales are perceived and therefore question the reliability of the scales’ interpretation. To address this issue, a large international collaborative questionnaire study was conducted in 26 countries, using 21 different languages, which led to a dataset of 8225 questionnaires. Results, analysed by means of robust statistical techniques, revealed that only a subset of the responses are in accordance with the mentioned assumptions. Significant differences appeared between groups of participants in their perception of the scales, both in relation to distances of the anchors and relationships between scales. It was also found that respondents’ interpretations of scales changed with contextual factors, such as climate, season, and language. These findings highlight the need to carefully consider context-dependent factors in interpreting and reporting results from thermal comfort studies or post-occupancy evaluations, as well as to revisit the use of rating scales and the analysis methods used in thermal comfort studies to improve their reliability

The Scales Project, a cross-national dataset on the interpretation of thermal perception scales

Thermal discomfort is one of the main triggers for occupants' interactions with components of the built environment such as adjustments of thermostats and/or opening windows and strongly related to the energy use in buildings. Understanding causes for thermal (dis-)comfort is crucial for design and operation of any type of building. The assessment of human thermal perception through rating scales, for example in post-occupancy studies, has been applied for several decades; however, long-existing assumptions related to these rating scales had been questioned by several researchers. The aim of this study was to gain deeper knowledge on contextual influences on the interpretation of thermal perception scales and their verbal anchors by survey participants. A questionnaire was designed and consequently applied in 21 language versions. These surveys were conducted in 57 cities in 30 countries resulting in a dataset containing responses from 8225 participants. The database offers potential for further analysis in the areas of building design and operation, psycho-physical relationships between human perception and the built environment, and linguistic analyses

Field study on adaptive thermal comfort in office buildings in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Japan during hot and humid season

Thermal comfort studies are necessary in the early stage of building design, especially in tropical climates where buildings are exposed to solar radiation throughout the year. In this study, we aimed to determine the summer comfort temperatures in offices in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Japan. Through field surveys during 2015, we collected 2049 responses from 325 occupants in 13 office buildings employing various ventilation modes, namely, free running (FR), mixed mode (MM), and mechanical cooling (CL). The results showed that the comfort range differed for each group of occupants under the different ventilation modes. The comfort operative temperatures in tropical climates are 25.7 °C, 24.9 °C, and 27.5 °C for the CL, FR, and MM ventilation modes respectively, whereas in Japan it is 25.8 °C for both CL and MM. The survey revealed that 97% of the responses in Japan were within the central three points of the TSV scale, but lower percentages were recorded in the other countries. In Singapore, 92.9% of the respondents were feeling either cold, cool, or slightly cool in their offices. In terms of adaptive behaviour, most of the occupants in Malaysia frequently used air-conditioning systems to maintain thermal comfort, while drinking cold beverages was more common in Indonesia and Japan. The high comfort temperature with MM ventilation could be influenced by the strong air movement and a wide range of adaptive options, such as opening windows and utilising air-conditioning systems

Adaptive thermal comfort in university classrooms in Malaysia and Japan

The range of students’ classroom-based activities is generally restricted; therefore, individuals have limited options for adjusting themselves to the indoor thermal environment. This study investigated the comfort temperature and adaptive behaviour of university students in Malaysia and Japan. Classrooms in three universities (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia; Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia; Kyushu University, Japan) were set to one of two conditions during the summer season: mechanical cooling (CL) mode, where AC was switched on for cooling purposes, and free-running (FR) mode, where AC was switched off. A total of 1428 responses were obtained. In Japan, 93.5% of the sample was male, while more even gender distributions were found in Malaysian samples. Additionally, clo values were generally higher amongst male respondents. In Japan, the mean comfort operative temperatures in FR mode was found to be 25.1 °C, while in Malaysia it was 25.6 °C. In CL mode, mean comfort operative temperatures were found to be 26.2 °C and 25.6 °C for Japan and Malaysia, respectively. Comfort temperatures in FR mode were compatible with Comité Européen de Normalisation (CEN) and American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) standards, while those in CL mode were mostly within Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) guidelines. While high proportions of students in both countries claimed that they did nothing to maintain their thermal comfort, the most common activity observed amongst Malaysian students was changing the AC temperature setting, due to the prevalence of CL in Malaysia